Введение
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate – компьютерная фэнтезийная ролевая игра, разработанная компанией Interplay Productions в 1988 году. Это второе продолжение серии The Bard's Tale. Игра была спроектирована Ребеккой Хайнеман, Брюсом Шликберндом и Майклом А. Стакполом. Выпуск игры состоялся на платформах Amiga, Apple II (64k), Commodore 64 и DOS.
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate is a computer fantasy role playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1988. It is the second sequel to The Bard's Tale. It was designed by Rebecca Heineman, Bruce Schlickbernd, and Michael A. Stackpole. The game was released for the Amiga, Apple II (64k), Commodore 64, and DOS.
История
Игровые персонажи получают письмо от умирающего человека, который сообщает им, что во время празднования победы над злым волшебником Мангаром, его истинный хозяин — Безумный Бог Таржан — прибыл и обрушил на мир злобных существ, уничтоживших город Скара-Брей. На обложке игры написано: "Скара-Брей лежит в руинах. Энергетический магазин Роско пустует. Магазин снаряжения обанкротился так быстро, что Гарт был раздавлен. Ваш бард не перестает всхлипывать с тех пор, как понял, что все таверны закрыты. Кто-то или что-то обрекло город на гибель злом настолько огромным и невыразимым, что даже полчища паладинам и армия архимагов не смогут противостоять. В трудные времена нужна скрытность. Чем меньше, тем лучше. Чем хитрее, тем лучше. Миру сейчас нужен вор. Вор Судьбы. Игра начинается в лагере беженцев за пределами разрушенного Скара-Брей, который заменяет теперь уничтоженную гильдию авантюристов из предыдущих игр. Помимо руин города, в дикой местности есть храм исцеления, таверна и ряд особых локаций, откуда партия будет отправляться в миссии в другие миры на протяжении всего своего путешествия. Скара-Брей был значительно уменьшен в размерах. Руины состоят из карт размером 16x16, вместо планировки города 30x30 из "Рассказа о Барде I", хотя его структура остается узнаваемой. В руинах Ревизионного совета старик — единственный выживший — направляет партию сначала убить Брильхасти ап Тардж, слугу Безумного Бога Таржана, в подземелье "Безумного Бога" под Скарой-Брей. Это стартовое задание для персонажей, чтобы обрести силу, которое можно проигнорировать, если у вас есть могущественные персонажи из предыдущих игр. Затем старик приказывает партии добыть артефакты из нескольких других миров и обучает группу заклинаниям хрономанта, которые нужно использовать в определенных точках дикой местности для путешествий в эти параллельные измерения и обратно:
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Арбория (из Сумеречного Роща): Приятное эльфийское царство, включающее город Сиера Бранния. Они должны вернуть героя Валариана или получить Лук Валариана и Стрелы Жизни. Оказывается, Валариан давно умер и похоронен в священной роще вместе с этими предметами. Король позволит партии войти в рощу только в том случае, если они сначала убьют местного злодея Цлоту Гарната с помощью Ночного Копья, которое можно получить в Башне Валариана. В Арбории партия впервые встречает воина Хоукслейера, хотя он вспоминает, что встречался с ними раньше (намек на то, что партия путешествует не только между измерениями, но и во времени).
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Гелидия (из Холодного Пика): Следующая задача партии — вернуть Ланатира или, если они не смогут убедить его присоединиться, Сферу Ланатира и Посох Силы из этого измерения магии. Гелидия оказывается ледяной пустошью с огромным ледяным замком. В близлежащей хижине найден дневник с замороженным трупом полуэльфа, позже идентифицированного как Алендар, который, предположительно, мертв уже тысячу лет. В дневнике рассказывается о том, как гарнизон, не имея на этот раз героя, подобного Хоукслееру, плохо справился с нападавшими, которые убили бога Ланатира. Ланатира похоронили в своем замке его оставшиеся последователи, которые затем запечатали его мощной магией. Алендар, последний выживший, наконец, наложил на землю заклинание вечной зимы, чтобы изгнать захватчиков, а затем сам умер от холода.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Люкенсия (из Кристальных Источников): Удивленный новостью о смерти Ланатира, как и Валариана, старик отправляет партию в другой приятный мир, Люкенсию, где находится город гномов Селария Бри. Партия должна получить Пояс Аллирии и Корону Истины. Неудивительно, что Аллирия мертва уже много лун, и предметы нужно извлечь из ее гробницы. Это включает в себя победу над драконом, а также над любовником Аллирии, Цианисом, который сошел с ума, будучи вынужденным наблюдать за тем, как Таржан пытает Аллирию до смерти.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Кинестия (из Старой Карликовой Шахты): В этом карликовом царстве команда должна вернуть Шлем Ферофиста и Молот Гнева. Они прибывают в разгар великой войны карликов против монстров, похожих на роботов, и снова встречают Хоукслейера, что примечательно, до того, как они встретили его в Арбории. Ферофист найден смертельно раненым. Он просит партию уничтожить плоды его глупого союза с темным и оставляет указания к сердцу механического вторжения. Там они встречают Урмеха, искусственное существо, которое было создано Ферофистом в нарушение Пакт Бога о дальнейшем творении (гнусный акт, который, по словам Урмеха, помог освободить темного). Когда ему противостоят, Урмех оказывается вполне разумным. Он указывает на то, что не совершил ничего плохого, кроме как жил, и что создал других себе подобных, чтобы защитить себя и не чувствовать себя одиноким. Обнаружив или, возможно, создав новый вид магии, Урмех предлагает обучить определенные классы персонажей стать Геомантами, новым типом заклинателей. Он также охотно отдает предметы Ферофиста партии, если они попросят; хотя есть и возможность сразиться с ним, чтобы завладеть ими.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Тенебросия (из Скалы Теней): Этот мир парадоксов включает в себя дикую местность под названием "Нигде" и город под названием Черный Шрам. Партия должна вернуть Плащ Скеаду и Шлем Правосудия. Скеаду, заключивший союз с Таржаном, не отдаст предметы добровольно, и его нужно будет выследить и убить в бою.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Тармития (из Долины Потерянных Воинов): "Земля нескончаемой войны" — это измерение вечной войны, где партия перемещается между переплетающимися местами сражений, такими как Берлин, Рим, Троя, Хиросима, Пустошь, Сталинград и Ноттингем, пока не достигнет Тармитии, где им нужно получить Щит Верры и Копье Раздора, победив бога войны в бою. Как простые смертные, они не могут его убить, но вскоре после этого оказываются втянутыми в атаку другого божества и становятся свидетелями смерти Верры. Они получают щит, но узнают, что Копье Раздора было отдано Хоукслееру.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Малефия (из Серных Источников): Вернувшись к старику, партия обнаруживает, что он смертельно ранен. Он инструктирует их найти и уничтожить Таржана в его владениях, предоставляет заклинания, необходимые для путешествия туда и обратно (ЗЛО и ЖИЗНЬ), и раскрывает местонахождение предметов, которые партия принесла, прежде чем умирает. С этого момента персонажи не могут повышать уровень в Скара-Брей, а должны отправиться в Ревизионный совет в одном из Измерений. С предметами, добытыми в предыдущих квестах, партия может перемещаться по Малефии, где находит Копье Раздора на трупе Хоукслейера и, наконец, противостоит и побеждает самого Таржана. Каноническая стратегия (согласно книге подсказок) заключается в том, чтобы персонаж класса вора или разбойника убил Таржана, используя свою особую боевую способность подкрадываться к противнику сзади, отсюда и подзаголовок игры "Вор Судьбы". С побежденным Таржаном выясняется, что партия игроков заняла места богов, убитых Таржаном, став новым созвездием на небе.
The player characters receive a letter from a dying man who informs them that, during a celebration of your defeat of the evil wizard Mangar, his true master—the Mad God Tarjan—arrived and unleashed foul creatures that destroyed the town of Skara Brae. The box cover states it thus:
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Skara Brae is in ruins. Roscoe's Energy Emporium stands vacant. The Equipment Shoppe went under so quickly Garth was crushed. Your Bard hasn't stopped whimpering since he realized all the taverns were closed Someone—or some thing—has sealed the city's fate with an evil so vast, so unspeakable, that a host of Paladins and an army of Archmages are out matched. Hard times call for subtlety. Smaller is better. Sneakier is better. What the world needs now is a thief. The Thief of Fate. The game begins in a refugee camp outside the ruined Skara Brae, which replaces the now destroyed adventurer's guild from the previous games. Besides the city ruins, the wilderness features a temple for healing, a tavern, and a number of special locations from where the party will embark on missions to other worlds over the course of their quest. Skara Brae was scaled down considerably. The ruins are 16x16 map tiles instead of the city's 30x30 layout from The Bard's Tale I, though its layout remains recognizable. In the ruins of the Review Board, an old man—the sole survivor—directs the party to first kill one Brilhasti ap Tarj, a servant of the mad god Tarjan, in the "Mad God" dungeon below Skara Brae, a startup quest for the characters to attain power, which can be ignored if powerful characters were carried over from previous games. Next, the old man orders the party to retrieve artifacts from several other worlds and also teaches the group the chronomancer spells to be used at certain points in the wilderness to travel to these parallel dimensions and back:
Arboria (from Twilight Copse): Pleasant elf realm including the city of Ciera Brannia. They have to bring back the hero Valarian or get Valarian's Bow and the Arrows of Life. It turns out Valarian is long since dead and buried in a sacred grove with the items. The king will only allow the party to enter the grove if they first kill the local villain Tslotha Garnath with the Nightspear that can be obtained from Valarian's Tower. In Arboria, the party meets the warrior Hawkslayer for the first time, though he recalls meeting them before (a hint at the fact that the party is travelling not only between dimensions but also across time in their quest). Gelidia (from Cold Peak): The party is next tasked to bring Lanatir or, if they cannot convince him to come, Lanatir's Sphere and the Wand of Power back from this dimension of magic. Gelidia turns out to be an icy wasteland with a great ice keep. In a nearby hut, a diary is found with the frozen corpse of a half elf later identified as Alendar, who is suggested to be dead for a thousand years already. The diary relates how the garrison, lacking a hero like Hawkslayer this time, fared poorly against attackers who killed the god Lanatir. Lanatir was buried in his keep by his remaining followers, who then sealed it with powerful magic. Alendar, the last survivor, finally cast a spell of eternal winter upon the land to vanquish the invaders and then died in the cold himself. Lucencia (from Crystal Springs): Shocked at the news of Lanatir's death as much as Valarian's, the old man sends the party to another pleasant world, Lucencia, where the gnome city of Celaria Bree is located. The party has to get the Belt of Alliria and the Crown of Truth. Unsurprisingly, Alliria has been dead for many moons already, and the items have to be retrieved from her tomb. This involves overcoming a dragon, and also Alliria's lover Cyanis, who was driven mad by being forced to watch Tarjan torture Alliria to death. Kinestia (from Old Dwarf Mine): In this dwarven realm, the party has to retrieve Ferofist's Helm and the Hammer of Wrath. They arrive in the middle of a great war of the dwarves against robot themed monsters and meet Hawkslayer again, curiously before they met him in Arboria. Ferofist is found mortally wounded. He asks the party to destroy the fruits of his foolish alliance with the dark one and leaves directions to the heart of the mechanical invasion. There, the party encounters Urmech, an artificial being who himself was created by Ferofist in violation of the God's Pact against further creation (a heinous act that, according to Urmech, helped free the dark one). When confronted, Urmech turns out to be quite reasonable. He points out that he has done no evil except to live, and that he created others of his kind to protect him and so that he will not be all alone. Having found or perhaps created a new kind of magic, Urmech offers to train certain character classes to become Geomancers, a new type of spellcaster. He also surrenders Ferofist's items to the party willingly, if they ask; though there is also the option of fighting him to claim the items. Tenebrosia (from Shadow Rock): This world of paradox features a wilderness named "Nowhere" and a town called Black Scar. The party has to bring Sceadu's Cloak and the Helm of Justice back. Having allied with Tarjan, Sceadu will not willingly give away the items and has to be tracked down and slain in combat. Tarmitia (from the Vale of Lost Warriors): The "land of unceasing warfare" is a dimension of perpetual war, with the party moving between interwoven battle sites such as Berlin, Rome, Troy, Hiroshima, Wasteland, Stalingrad, and Nottingham until they arrive at Tarmatia, where they have to obtain Werra's Shield and the Strifespear by besting the war god in combat. As mere mortals, they cannot really kill him, but then they are caught up in an attack by another deity immediately afterwards and witness Werra's death. They get the shield, but learn that the Strifespear was given to Hawkslayer. Malefia (from Sulphur Springs): Upon returning to the old man, the party finds him mortally wounded. He instructs them to seek out and vanquish Tarjan in his domain, provides the spells required to go there and back (EVIL and LIVE), and reveals the location of the items the party brought back before he dies. From this point onwards, characters cannot level up in Skara Brae, but need to go to a Review Board in one of the Dimensions. With the items retrieved on their previous quests, the party can navigate Malefia, where they find the Strifespear on Hawkslayer's corpse, and finally confront and vanquish Tarjan himself. The canonical strategy (per the cluebook) is for a character of the thief or rogue class to kill Tarjan, by using their special combat ability to sneak up on an opponent from behind, hence the game's subtitle "Thief of Fate". With Tarjan defeated, it is revealed that the player party took the places of the deities Tarjan killed, becoming a set of new stars in the sky.
Производство
Майкл Кранфорд, создатель серии "Сказка о Барде", не принимал участия в создании этого продолжения, поскольку решил покинуть Interplay для изучения философии и теологии. Программист игры "The Bard's Tale III" Хайнеман сообщил, что первоначально игра должна была называться "Сказки Неизвестного. Том III: Сказка Вора". Хайнеман также пытался получить права у Electronic Arts для продолжения разработки новых игр серии "Bard's Tale", но безуспешно. Майкл А. Стэкпол разработал сюжетную линию и создал карты для "Сказки о Барде III". Позже он стал успешным писателем, автором множества романов в популярных вселенных "Звёздные войны" и "BattleTech". Брюс Шликбернд и Майкл Стэкпол также сотрудничали над играми Interplay "Wasteland", "Star Trek: 25th Anniversary" и "Star Trek: Judgment Rites".
Michael Cranford, the creator of the Bard's Tale series, was not involved in this sequel, as he had decided to leave Interplay to study philosophy and theology. The Bard's Tale III programmer Heineman has said that the original name of this game was to be Tales of the Unknown Volume III: The Thief's Tale. Heineman also once sought to continue creating new Bard's Tale games, but was unsuccessful in obtaining the rights from Electronic Arts. Michael A. Stackpole created the storyline of The Bard's Tale III and made maps for it. He has since become a successful author, having penned many novels in the hugely popular Star Wars and BattleTech series. Bruce Schlickbernd and Michael Stackpole also collaborated on Interplay's Wasteland, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, and Star Trek: Judgment Rites.
Ремастерированный
Во время кампании на Kickstarter по созданию полноценной четвертой части серии, inXile сотрудничала с Ребеккой Хайнеман и её компанией Olde Sküül для ремастеринга оригинальной трилогии на современные персональные компьютеры под управлением Mac OS и Microsoft Windows (вместо эмулированных версий, предлагаемых inXile). После зашедшего в тупик процесса разработки, Olde Sküül и inXile договорились передать проект студии Krome Studios. Игра вышла в составе ремастерированной трилогии The Bard's Tale Trilogy 26 февраля 2019 года. Ремастерированное издание оригинальной трилогии было выпущено для Xbox One 13 августа 2019 года, после приобретения inXile Entertainment компанией Microsoft. Эта коллекция поддерживает функцию Xbox Play Anywhere.
During the Kickstarter campaign to create a proper fourth installment to the series, inXile partnered with Rebecca Heineman and her company Olde Sküül to remaster the original trilogy for modern personal computers running Mac OS and Microsoft Windows (instead of the emulated versions offered by inXile). After reaching an impasse in development, Olde Sküül and inXile agreed to transfer the project to Krome Studios. The game was released as part of the remastered The Bard's Tale Trilogy on February 26, 2019. The remastered edition of the original trilogy was released for Xbox One on August 13, 2019. This followed the acquisition of inXile Entertainment by Microsoft. The collection supports Xbox Play Anywhere.